Obituary: Gill Astarita

The Institute of Fundraising is to rename one of its National Awards in honour of Gill. The Fundraiser of the Year award, which is sponsored by UK Fundraising, will become the Gill Astarita Fundraiser of the Year award.

www.fundraising.co.uk/node/176006

My first encounter with Gill was in the smokingroom at Action for Blind People, I was very new there and had not met her before. I was aquainting myself with everyone in room and asked Gill who she was and where worked " I work upstairs in Fundraising" was her reply and she went on to ask me who i was and we had carried on chatting, After Gill had left the room some astounded person said " Did you know who that was? That was the Director of Development"- I hadn't a clue! As far as was concerned i had'nt made a faux pas and i'm certian Gill did'nt think so either.
Gill without question has left her own unique impression on many peoples lives both those of us who worked with her and those who never knew her but who's lives have benefited from her hard work and total dedication and determination to achieve excellence in everything she did.

The last time i saw Gill was the day she left Action , she was Buzzing and ready for her next challenge and i reckon wherever she is that's exactly what she's doing now. Much Love to you Gill xxxx

I first met Gill in the late 1980's I think when she turned up at the Enfield North Labour Party and before too long was going out with Mark, my then fellow Enfield Councillor.

I was working at the madhouse which was War on Want (I'm still a trustee) and a job came up which I suggested Gill might apply for. She joined in 1989, I think, just before we hit some pretty tricky financial issues that nearly sent us under.

I remember well that Gill decided to become the union representative not long after she joined and I then faced the rather strange scenario where Gill was the union rep on my interview panel for a management job. If I was expecting any favours, I was badly mistaken as Gill told me after the interview in that matter of fact way that we all loved that I wasn't the best candidate for the job and she "couldn't understand how the panel had decided to give it to you." That was Gill, telling it how she saw it.

I have admired how she progressed within the charity sector - a true social entrepreneur - and was really pleased to work with her and her staff/trustees on a couple of occasions at Volunteer Reading Help. It was her first Chief Exec job and boy was she suited to it.

I last saw her at the Homerton Hospital around the point of her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. She had been suffering with a serious infection but in true Gill style told me that she "would have been really pissed off if the infection had got me rather than the cancer." As always we turned to politics, which was another great love of hers, and she said that the upside was that "at least I won't have to see that prat David Cameron in No. 10".

I said that the General Election was some way off and that she might see that yet, but in the event that horrible illness took her from us very quickly.

Sharp, without any pretensions, generous, astute, telling you how it was and open. That was Gill. She also had a laugh that engulfed you like a gale.

As it seems with most people I too vividly recall my first meeting with Gill. It was getting on for 20 years ago when she was fundraising for War on Want. We met for lunch, outside on a sunny London day. I recall being struck by her sheer force of personality, her enthusiasm for her work and her cause, and of course her distinctive look and the bubby passion and compassion that radiated from within.

We also shared an abiding passion and love of cats, their unique personalities and characteristics, both losing long time companions in close proximity to each other.

I first met Mark when Gill moved to Prisoners Abroad, and we met to get Payroll Giving fundraising underway. Demonstrating another of Gill’s hallmarks, the fundraising challenges she sought; this was not an “easy” fundraiser’s ask even with some of the truly remarkable “survivors” I was lucky enough to meet there.

It is hard to imagine a more perfectly matched and suited couple, both great advocates for their respective charities and both great ambassadors for the third sector, and for all of us for whom our work is more than just a job. Gill found the perfect vocation and the perfect partner with whom to share and spread her innate joy and passion for life and, most importantly of all, the people within it.

There were only a couple of months difference between us in age. Her next birthday would have been the landmark half century. It’s impossible to get to that age, especially in fundraising, and not meet a few people in the course of living life that stand out, head and shoulders above the rest. The thought of them somehow defying time, remaining vivid and alive: special people that impact you and your life, that leave you energised, topped up. Gill was one of those people, a very special soul radiating and personifying in all that she did and every breath she took what she believed was “the right thing”, even when it wasn’t easy or popular; and, most important of all, doing it with good grace and an ever beaming smile. In both her attitude and her actions Gill was a consummate fundraiser and a consummate human being whose loss will be widely felt and whose contribution will be sadly missing from a world that could definitely do with more of her balance, warmth, irreverent straight talking and just plain love of life.
Cathy

Gill was always great to use as a sounding board, as you’d be sure to get a direct & honest response when attempting to set one or other parts of the fundraising sector to rights. Throughout the seven years that I have worked with Gill, we’d bounced around loads of ideas, but in 2006 we identified what we felt to be a gap in the provision of skills-based training aimed at professionals/graduates wanting to enter the sector, but unable to afford to volunteer full-time … and so the seeds of the Fundraising Academy were sown, and I had been galvanised into action!

Gill was a strong advocate of a more generalist approach to fundraising training, believing fundraisers were forced to specialise too early on in specific areas of our sector. Before I could question where we might find the vast array of expertise required, Gill was reeling off a mind-boggling list of her fundraiser contacts, representing every type of charity imaginable and specialising in every field of fundraising, not to mention those closely connected to it, from marketing & communications through to project management. Every one of those approached pledged their support upon learning of Gill’s involvement, such was the groundswell of respect that she engendered.

There are few people in life who have such a positive and motivational influence on their peers in their chosen profession – Gill’s character, individuality & ‘cut the crap’ approach stood her apart. Whilst it is desperately sad to lose Gill so soon, I for one take comfort from the fact that there are many, many of us out there who have been profoundly shaped by her. Thanks to Gill’s influence, the sector will continue to be a much, much better place for many years to come.

I first knew Gill when she joined Action for Blind People at a critical time. As we know income increased substantially with new people on board and an exciting sense of direction was achieved. Gill had that gift of knowing what was going on and how her teams were feeling without cutting across her managers. When I retired Gill still wanted to meet up to chat over how I was getting on and even in the last year when I was considering a stretching new job, rang back within 20 minutes to encourage me. I was also asked to lecture at the Fundraising Academy and this was a real opportunity for me.
I will truly miss her wise advice and frankness of style. She had so much more to give.
Peter Robson, Pelican Cancer Foundation.

I worked at Volunteer Reading Help with Gill, in my first role as a dedicated fundraiser. I moved on and have progressed to Head of Statutory and Research for a large Charity. The first time I saw Gill, with her quirky dress sense and mop of mad, curly hair, I remember being delighted that she was not 'your usual' CEO. I soon found that she always had her own style, the strength and determination to put forward her ideas and the conviction to see them through. She was an inspiration and I will miss her, along with her booming laugh.

For those of you who worked at VRH there was a particular Christmas party with all of us and Gill.....say no more! What a night we had and I still laugh about it now!

I've known Gill for 16 years or so, both as friend and colleague; indeed she was one my trustees at PA.
She was an interesting mix of a professional with a strong social conscience coupled with an acute entrepeneural flair.
She was supportive both as a trustee and a friend but didn't shy away from telling you it straight!
On a personal note she was great fun to be with and had the loudest of laughs.
I'll miss you Gill.

Carlo

Gill Astarita

Both Gill and Mark came separately to work for me as the fundraiser at Prisoners Abroad some twenty years ago and they have remained firm friends ever since. I was with them shortly before Gill’s death and marvelled at her ability to be so full of life and humour in such circumstances – it is that vitality above all which so many of us will remember and miss and so endeared Gill to all who had the privilege of knowing her. She leaves a gap that cannot be filled because she gave so much and affected so many of us.

I was able to see Gill at the beginning of her fundraising career and to watch how she progressed through her own talents and personality. Her energy and determination lifted Prisoners Abroad to new heights and reputation with a sound funding base. It is difficult to summarise the contribution Gill made to her work and those whose lives she touched but it is good to see that already there are many of those who have written lovely pieces about her on the Volunteer Reading Help and UKFundraising websites.

What comes through these comments is her skills as an entrepreneur and fundraiser, her diplomacy and marketing abilities, sense of humour and infectious laugh, honesty and courage which were all part of her charisma and the way in which she was able to raise the profile of organisations for which she worked by engaging those with influence in the same enthusiasm she always showed for what she did. She shared her knowledge by helping others in pursuing their careers. Her intelligence was beyond doubt but her humanity and integrity and her way of inspiring others are what for which principally we shall remember her. She was a natural campaigner through her communication and negotiating skills – when she asked it was impossible to deny Gill. She was an effective activist on behalf of her causes and you always knew with Gill that she believed in what she promoted – her passion for what she did which to her was never a job but a vocation. That was what made her so inspiring and irresistible.

We have lost a friend and an effective voluntary sector leader who was held in admiration, respect and affection by a large number of people. Gill, you gave us so much and took so little. You enlightened our own lives by your vitality, warmth and sense of fun. We loved you and will always cherish your memory.

Keith Best
Chief Executive
Immigration Advisory Service

That was Gill. Head back, mad hair flowing, one eye slightly closed and laughing fit to burst, in an endearingly obscene manner. I'm really glad that that's the image I still see when I think of Gill.

I first met Gill when I was a wide-eyed 19 year old student looking for somewhere to live some 23 years ago. There she was when I turned up at the suggested Housing Association house, with mad, totally mad, dark hair and eyes like saucers, rimmed heavily with kohl. I was an innocent abroad and she was as scary as all hell at first sight.

To me, then, Gill exuded the epitome of cool. She was mature, knew where she was going, but knew how to party as well. It's only now, as things change in my own life, that I can see what a monumental strength of will, and effort, Gill displayed in getting her life on course after losing her parents at such a young age. She made an astounding success of her life I think.

We quickly and easily became friends. Sometimes, after a glass or two, or more, we discussed whether our shared malevolency and extremely dry sense of humour was a Scorpio trait. I don't think we ever came to a sober conclusion, but the booze and the discussions were pretty good as I recall.

In the 90s I think I perhaps saw more of Lenin, Pippa and Cassie than I did Gill and Mark, as I did a fair bit of cat-sitting whilst they jetted off all over the world. Gill love, I don't actually like cats very much generally, but I made an exception for those three, and particularly, as you know, the totally gorgeous Cassie. I also willingly stood, like a prat, on the front door-step in Almorah Road softly calling 'Lenin...LENIN' every night because the daft cat knew how to get from the back of the flat to the front, but not back again!

I didn't get to see Gill, and Mark, so much in recent years. Everyone is busy living their own lives of course. With the closeness of years of shared history, its easy to let the years go by, knowing it will all come back at the next meeting, and we assume this will be the way for years to come.

I'm glad I got to spend a few hours with Gill, and Mark, in July this year. Gill was totally Gill still. She was full of life and laughter, with her razor-sharp brain running on gas.

And she laughed.